By GREG JOHNS, P-I REPORTER

Published 10:00 pm, Monday, September 17, 2007

AUBURN -- The Muckleshoot Tribe announced its willingness Monday to donate a 26.5-acre parcel of land to any group that wants to build an NBA arena in Auburn. But is Sonics owner Clay Bennett interested?

Bennett and Gov. Chris Gregoire received copies of a now-complete feasibility study showing the property adjacent to Emerald Downs racetrack as a viable site for a multi-purpose arena, as well as the tribe's offer of free use of their land and parking for the project.

Bennett responded to the Muckleshoots by e-mail, offering his thanks and an indication he'd get back to the tribe. But a Bennett spokesman said the team's majority owner was choosing not to comment on Monday.

Emerald Downs owner Ron Crockett, who leases the property his track sits on from the Muckleshoots, had lunch with Bennett two weeks ago when the Oklahoma City businessman toured the site for the first time. He came away with a revised view of Bennett's intentions.

"From what I'd read before, I thought he had no interest," Crockett said. "But after meeting him, I think he's genuinely interested."

The Muckleshoot offer is contingent on someone stepping up with a financing plan for a potential 18,500-seat arena that would cost about $415 million in current dollars, according to Jason Thompson, senior associate for Brailsford & Dunlavy, a Washington, D.C., firm hired by the Muckleshoots to conduct the feasibility study.

With inflation, that figure would rise to $452 million by 2009, which is the earliest construction could likely begin in Thompson's estimation.

The tribe is willing to help facilitate financing by bringing key political and private parties together, but wouldn't contribute any cash of its own. Gregoire has asked prominent businessmen David Sabey, Bob Watt and Brad Smith to delve into the arena situation, but her office also declined comment Monday, saying she'd yet to read the Muckleshoot's lengthy study.

Thompson, whose firm has worked on Kent and Everett arenas as well as numerous national projects, said the Auburn property was comparable and even favorable to the current KeyArena site in terms of many market factors.

Although Thompson said suburban arena sites are rare in the NBA -- with Sacramento and Detroit the two primary examples -- he laid out study results showing a slightly greater population base within 30-, 45- and 60-minute drive times of Auburn as opposed to KeyArena in the post-commute time frame, with that number expected to further increase in the coming years.

The study did show KeyArena is more accessible to households with an average income of $100,000 or more in the 30- and 45-minute drive-time areas. A phone survey of 32 area businesses also indicated a strong preference for a Seattle solution.

"There's no way to sugarcoat it. Auburn is not the preferred site," Thompson said. "But at the same time, these companies were clearly willing to support this project if this were the only viable solution. They're intent on keeping the Sonics in town and if it meant supporting this site, then so be it."

Muckleshoot spokesman Rollin Fatland said the tribe's motive is simply to help keep the Sonics from departing.

"This is an offer on the part of the tribe to do something positive for the region," Fatland said. "To this point, there has been a lot of gnashing of teeth and lawyering up. What the tribe is trying to do is put something constructive on the table to get the region in a positive mode, focusing on something that can be done rather than what has gone on so far."

Neither Fatland nor Thompson would suggest the property value of the parcel, a piece of pasture and farmland located between state Route 167 and Emerald Downs about 25 miles south of downtown Seattle.

Bennett previously was looking at a 21-acre piece of land in Renton that was valued at between $18 million and $20 million. A 14-acre area in Bellevue was also under early consideration. That parcel was controlled by multiple owners and would have cost two or three times more than the Renton site, according to early estimates.

Fatland said the tribe has spent "in the ballpark" of $100,000 on the feasibility study and is also willing to pay for Brailsford & Dunlavy to take the next step and begin studying whether a financial plan can be pieced together if other interested parties step forward.

"We have to move into consensus building stage," said Thompson, indicating he'd like to get all the major players to the same table. "We can do what has been done the past five years, which is in isolation put together a financing plan and run it up the flagpole to see if it works. The other approach is to go out and touch all your bases, find out where everybody is and put together a financing plan that makes sense."

Fatland acknowledged tax money would almost certainly need to be part of the funding equation, though Thompson said no decision is in place over who would own the arena at this point.

"Absolutely not," he said. "That should be part of the financing plan. Actual ownership of the building is a key deal point in paying for it. The one part of the financing plan that has been incorporated is the tribe's participation. They are willing to contribute this site at no cost to the project."

Fatland believes the ball now lies in the hands of Bennett and Gregoire.

"The governor has called a group together to head this issue up," Fatland said. "What the next step would be would probably be more appropriate for them to address."

There are some wetlands issues, Thompson said, with a creek running through the property. That and the need to build a bridge over an adjacent railroad are included in his $415 million estimate.

Thompson indicated traffic concerns would include "at a minimum" adding additional turn lanes on some of the two-lane roads leading into the area. Emerald Downs would provide use of its 5,400 parking spots. A 1,500-stall parking garage as well as 1,820 additional surface spots could be added on the 26-acre site adjacent to the proposed arena, which would take up about nine acres on its own.

The study indicated 6,600 total parking spots would be necessary for peak demand at an 18,500-seat facility.

A vacant 30-acre parcel of land south of the site, which isn't owned by the Muckleshoots, could conceivably be developed with further parking or restaurants and bars, Thompson said.

Crockett said he'd welcome a new arena adjacent to his track, which is in the 11th year of a 60-year lease agreement with the Muckleshoots.

"I think it would be great," Crockett said. "We'd have no problems at all (being adjacent to a multipurpose arena). I can't think of better partners to have than the tribe. They've been great to deal with."